FOOD AND ENTERPRISE DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM FOR LIBERIA MONTHLY REPORT: APRIL 2013 0 Photo 9: WomenFood and Enterprise mobilizing Development local Program materials for Liberia in Monthly Report April 1-30, 2013 Payee Town for the construction of drying floor Program Title: Food and Enterprise Development Program for Liberia (FED) Sponsoring USAID Office: USAID/Liberia Contract Number: 669-C-00-11-00047-00 Contractor: DAI Date of Publication: May 14, 2013 Author: Moses Owen Browne, Jr. – Radio Specialist Photo Caption: Women mobilizing local materials in Payee Town for the construction of a drying floor. DISCLAIMER The authors’ views expressed in this publication1 do not necessarily reflect the views of the United States Agency for International Development or the United States Government. Food and Enterprise Development Program for Liberia Monthly Report April 1-30, 2013 ACRONYMS ACE Africa Cost to Europe AEDE Agency for Economic Development and Empowerment APDRA Appaloosa Distance Ride Association AWEP African Women Entrepreneurship Program BSTVSE Bureau of Science, Technical, Vocational and Special Education BWI Booker Washington Institute CARI Center of Agriculture Research Institute CVC Cassava Value Chain DAI Development Alternatives, Inc. DCOP Deputy Chief of Party ECOWAS Economic Community of West African States ED Enterprise Development EMMP Environmental Mitigation and Monitoring Plan EO Extension Officer FED Food and Enterprise Development FTF Farmer to Farmer FtF Feed the Future GBCC Grand Bassa County Community College GCAP Green Coast Agricultural Program GPS Global Positioning Systems IFDC International Fertilizer Developmental Center IP Implementing Partner IQC Indefinite Quantity Contract LAUNCH Liberia Agriculture, Upgrading Nutrition & Child Health LCCC Lofa County Community College LIFE Livelihood Improvement for Farming Enterprises LMEP Liberia Monitoring and Evaluation Program LREC Liberia Renaissance Education Complex MDF Market Development Fund MIS Market Information Systems MoA Ministry of Agriculture MoCI Ministry of Commerce and Industry MoE Ministry of Education MoU Memorandum of Understanding Food and Enterprise Development Program for Liberia Monthly Report April 1-30, 2013 ii MSME Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise NAD National Diploma in Agriculture NCCC Nimba County Community College NGW New General Women PIDS Performance Indicator Database System PMP Performance Management Plan PUA Peri-Urban Agriculture R&RF Rights & Rice Foundation RFTOP Requests for task order proposals RRA Rapid Rural Appraisal STTA Short Term Technical Assistant TAMIS Technical Administrative Management Information System TVET Technical, Vocational Education and Training UDP Urea Deep Placement UL University of Liberia UMU United Methodist University Food and Enterprise Development Program for Liberia Monthly Report April 1-30, 2013 iii Table of Contents ACRONYMS .............................................................................................................................................. ii GEOGRAPHIC REACH OF FED ............................................................................................................ v BACKGROUND .......................................................................................................................................... 1 SUMMARY—APRIL 2013 ........................................................................................................................ 2 COMPONENT ONE: INCREASED AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTIVITY ....................................... 6 COMPONENT TWO: STIMULATE PRIVATE ENTERPRISE ........................................................ 13 COMPONENT THREE: BUILD LOCAL HUMAN CAPACITY ....................................................... 19 TASK 4.5 ENVIRONMENTAL COMPLIANCE .................................................................................. 24 MARKET DEVELOPMENT FUND ....................................................................................................... 25 APRIL 2013 SUMMARY PERFORMANCE INDICATOR REPORT ............................................... 29 PROJECT MANAGEMENT AND ADMINISTRATION .................................................................... 30 FED STTA TRACKING TABL APRIL 2013 ........................................................................................ 31 Food and Enterprise Development Program for Liberia Monthly Report April 1-30, 2013 iv GEOGRAPHIC REACH OF FED Food and Enterprise Development Program for Liberia Monthly Report April 1-30, 2013 v BACKGROUND The Food and Enterprise Development (FED) Program for Liberia is a USAID-funded initiative that began in September 2011. Through implementing a Liberian strategy which incorporates women and youth, FED is helping the government of Liberia and the country achieve food security — in terms of food availability, utilization, and accessibility — by building an indigenous incentive structure that assists a range of agricultural stakeholders to adopt commercial approaches. This incentive structure is built upon: • Improved technology for productivity and profitability; • Expanded and modernized input supply and extension systems; • Commercial production, marketing, and processing; • Enterprise Services; and • Workforce Development. FED works with the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) and the private sector to link communities to agricultural inputs (including improved seeds), extension services, nutritious food products, processing services, market information, transportation, credit, as well as appropriate education, training, and enterprise services. Over the life of the five-year FED program, expanded market linkages will lead to substantial income and job growth along with major increases in the production, processing, marketing, and nutritional utilization of rice, cassava, vegetables, and goats in Bong, Lofa, Nimba, Grand Bassa, Montserrado, and Margibi counties. These counties are being targeted in the context of regional development corridors that foster intra- and inter-county commerce, simultaneously improving food availability and access for all Liberians. FED’s methodology is market-led, value chain-driven, continuously dedicated to indigenous capacity building, and specifically focused on benefiting Liberia’s women and youth. FED’s approach aims to be collaborative, catalytic, and driven by the goals and objectives of our partner clients. It will lead to increased incomes for rural households, new employment opportunities for Liberians, expanded access to food and improved household dietary diversity scores for food-insecure Liberians, in addition to the adoption of improved inputs, farming practices, and technologies which boost agricultural productivity. FED is implemented by five partners including: Development Alternatives, Inc. (DAI), Winrock International, International Fertilizer Developmental Center (IFDC), Louisiana State University, and The Cadmus Group. Food and Enterprise Development Program for Liberia Monthly Report April 1-30, 2013 1 SUMMARY—APRIL 2013 During the month of April, FED implemented many activities including: the roll out of the rice production activities, preparation of sites for Urea Deep Planting (UDP) field trials, sites selection for new generational women, assessment for component one rice team, construction of parboiling floors and goat shelters, market assessment for rice, completion and validation with stakeholders of extension materials for PUA, release of the RFP for the to conduct a national and regional cassava market study and completion of the training module for “Farming as a Business.” From April 24 to 26, the ED team supported the first annual MoCI MSME 2013 Conference and Trade Fair: “From Vision to Implementation - Buying Liberian Building Liberia”. Component One: Increasing Agriculture Productivity and Profitability Rice value chain: The rice team conducted a Training of Trainers (TOT) Workshop in rice production across Nimba, Bong, and Grand Bassa Counties. Two FED staff members (Rice Officer and Rice Value Chain Manager) conducted the TOT Workshop in rice production best practices and water management. The training, which ran from April 15 - 20, 2013, brought together 25 technicians from four NGOs. Eight participants from ODARAFA (Lofa County, 7 from ASCO (Bong County), 6 from SERE (Nimba County) and 4 from WAI (Grand Bassa County) were trained. The NGO trainees who benefited from FED TOT best practices in rice production and water management will provide on-farm training/learning by doing to 5,341(Lowland-3754 & Upland-1587) farmers with total hectares of 1,883.8 (Lowland-286.8 & Upland-1597) across four counties. Eight (8) artisans were trained in the fabrication of parboiling drums and tanks on April 15-16, 2013. Twenty-five (25) masons (3 from Lofa, 2 from Bong and 20 from Bassa) were trained in the construction of drying floor on April 22-23, 2013. These masons will provide the service for future construction of additional drying floors in various FED-assisted sites. 8 drying floors (two for each county) were constructed and parboiling tanks were fabricated and demonstration of the use of these post-harvest technologies was carried out by STTA Dr. Rama Rao Vellanki. Parboiling demonstration was conducted in Blay-Gbahn and Kuotarr Towns in Grand Bassa County ( April 17-20, 2013) Dr. Vellanki also carried out demonstration and training on rat guard fabrication and installation in eight communities in the four counties for 48 participants. A total of 9.8 metric